Improvement in the manufacture of horseshoe-nails



GEoEeE' L. 'Y'H'ALL, or BOSTON, AssAcEusETTs' AssIGNO tro nnltnkgfGANSETT HORSE NATL ooMPAnY, o AEr o D, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFAbTUREbF ,HQRSESHOE-NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 189,03 ll, dated April3, 1877; application filed December 13, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. HALL, of Boston, Sufiolk county,Massachusetts, have invented Improvements in Horseshoe -Nail Making, ofwhich the following is the specification:

The object of my invention is to manufacture horseshoe-nails. fromT-shaped blanks by means of two revolving dies, adapted to said blanks,as fully described hereafter, and shown in the accompanying drawing, inwhich- Figure l is an exterior elevation of a horseshoe-nail machineconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view, andFigs. '3 to 7 diagrams, illustrating the operation of the machine.

A represents part of the frame of a horseshoe-nail machine, havingbearings for two shafts, a a, which are geared together, and carry attheir outer ends the two cylindrical dies or disks B B, revolving withtheir peripheries in contact. In the edge of each disk is a recess, 0,corresponding longitudinally to one-half of the partly-finished nail T,Figs. 3 and 4, to be formed by the dies, and into the space between thedies extends the lower end of the feeding-tube O, the channel 0 in whichis of a width to receive the blanks D, of the form shown in Fig. 5.

The tube 0 is slotted at one side to receive the ends of two =or morelevers or rods, b b, pivoted at t t, Fig. 2, and one bearing on theother, so that when a stop, d, on one end of the shaft bears against theend of and opcrates one of the levers, the other will be vibrated in thereverse direction.

The ends of the levers within the tube, when in the position shown inFig. 2, serve as a .rest on which the blank is supported, as shown indot-ted lines w, Fig. 1, and the stop d is so arranged that a blankfalling through the channel will be arrested until the recesses in thedies are in a proper position to receive it, when the levers willseparate and permit it to descend to the position shown in dotted linesw, Fig. l.

I, however, make no claim to the use of the two levers or detents.

Great difficulty has been experienced in forming the heads and drawingout the shanks of the nails, it being found that blanks, as ordinarilyformed when passed between the usual dies, produce nails with imperfectheads, or greatly weakened at the junction of the heads and shanks. Ihave found that, by forming the blanks with wide heads, and soproportioning the recesses c in the dies that the ears will becompressed laterally, so as to spread the head downward and forwardbefore any pressure on the shank, a solid, shapely, and finished headwould be produced before any material elongation of the shank, whichbegins to be opera-ted on as the head begins to leave the dies, the stembeing then drawn or rolled longitudinally without drawing on the head ordistending the metal in the least. Thus the dies are formed withshoulders m m, which bear upon the ears or lugs z z of the blank, whilethe said shoulders are on radial lines at an angle of from ten to twentydegrees from a horizontal line drawn through the shafts, and pressure isapplied laterally by said shoulders to compress the lugs,and therebyforce the metal downward and forward, forming the head before theshoulders materially compress the shank, by which time they reach (ornearly reach) the horizontal line, when the edges of the dies will actwith a rolling action to draw out or lengthen the shank without any drawon the head or tendency to pull it away from the shank.

This result is due to the adaptation of the blank and dies to eachother, so that the lugs z a will be pressed or molded into the headbefore any material force is applied to draw out the shank, and by onlyapplying this force as the head crosses the horizontal line drawnthrough the shafts.

By forming the blanks with inwardly-curved edges 0 1;, correspondingvery nearly to the inclination to be imparted to the side edges '0 o ofthe nail-head, Fig. 3, the weakening of the metal, which in ordinaryblanks results from forming deep angular indentations at these points inrolling, is effectually prevented.

I claim As an improvement in the art of manufacturing horseshoe-nails,the particular adaptation herein described of the dies to the nailblank,which latter is of an uniform thickness, but of a shape otherwise, asrepresented and set forth, in virtue of which the head metal, instead ofbeing first forced laterally and upwardly into the shank, is at firstforced laterally and downwardly toward the apex of the head, thuscompletely filling all the angles of the head-die, and after thisforcing any surplus metal toward and into the shank, to he succeededimmediately by the reduction of the shank itself, which latter operationcommences about the time the head is passing across the plane of theaxis of the die-rolls.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. y

l ."GEO. L. BALL. Witnesses: i

M. M. TIDD, NATHAN BRQWN.

